| Περίληψη: | The spread of Catholicism among the local Christian population in the
Syro-Palestinian region has attracted the attention of many scholars. Previous
research has described how missionaries’ work was facilitated by the
patronage of local notables, by the establishment of personal ties with locals,
and more generally by a wide range of daily interactions, such as providing
medical assistance. 1 In this framework, academic attention has mostly
focused on the cities, consistent with the fact that missions were far more
numerous in urban areas. An important exception is a pioneering work by
Bernard Heyberger. This early study reconstructs how, departing from their
houses in cities such as Sayda and Tripoli, Jesuits and Capuchins visited
rural villages in Galilee and Lebanon. Inspired by the model of rural missions
developed in Europe during the Catholic Reformation, their activities
hinged on confession and preaching. In line with the regional framework,
missionaries also carefully built ties with locals and offered their medical
competencies, which greatly helped their cause. 2 Although the importance
of interactions with the locals in the spread of Catholicism in the Middle
East has been widely acknowledged, many questions about the nature of
these interactions still remain unanswered: How did the administrative and
economic system that characterized rural and semi-rural spaces influence
missionaries’ interactions with the surrounding areas? What was the relationship
between missionaries’ entanglement with local society and their
evangelizing activities? And, finally, to what extent did these interactions
turn the missionaries into “localized” protagonists?
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